What are you like? Part 1 of 2

Our assumptions can make or break our change efforts in 2021

Assumptions – what’s the deal?

All of us have assumptions about what our organisation values and how it really works.

We may be actively aware of these assumptions or blindsided by them. They may be largely valid or off the mark.

In TUNA (turbulent, uncertain, novel and ambiguous) conditions our assumptions can make or break us in dealing with ‘change’ (what comes at us individually and organisationally) and ‘transition’ (what happens within us individually, as we respond to such change).  

This article looks at the first four of the classic 8 metaphors introduced by Gareth Morgan[1] (and updates) [2] to improve how we:

* think about our organisation and its role in the world: ‘the way we are’

* what this realisation means for us as we initiate and respond to change challenges and opportunities

* where we and our organisation may be wise to ‘change how we change’

Bundles of assumptions and realities

Using the first four metaphors in turn, we can start to unmask the key assumptions we are making in any situation. This can inform how we evaluate these assumptions as they relate to specific challenges and opportunities relevant to us and our organisations.

Ideally, we then bundle our assumptions together as a reality check against our change aspirations and seek to modify undesirable realities (a challenging process!) to better enable our change efforts.   

We can use this heightened awareness to improve how we lead ourselves, and others, strategically through change and uncertainty, even given the limitations of bias and incomplete information.    

Which of the following metaphors resonate with you and your situation in 2021?

I TALK OF MY ORGANISATION AS IF IT IS:

1.     A MACHINE – “We are well-designed and reliable. Expected outputs flow reliably from quality inputs; feedback and control loops work well. We can improve economy, efficiency and effectiveness in predictable ways”.  

Exercise: CHOOSE A CAR THAT YOUR ORGANISATION IS LIKE. What make and model did you pick? Why? Is your car fit for the journey ahead? What might you change?

2.     A POLITICAL SYSTEM –

WHAT POLITICAL GAMES ARE PLAYED IN YOUR ORGANISATION? Who are the ‘villains’? Who are the ‘goodies’? In whose eyes? What makes them so? What sources of personal power do they draw on and build?

In his classic book, psychologist David McClelland [3]identified 3 core motivations: achievement, affiliation and power. We each have a mix of these. Which motivations do you recognise as dominant in yourself and others on your senior leadership team? In other in your organisation? How do you currently fuel and harness those motivations? What risks do you need to manage from that? 

Some choose to minimise their development of political (influencing) skills because they see these behaviours as necessary evils. This can be a detrimental error, leaving them and their organisation exposed to malevolent parties more skilled in these areas.

As Jonathan Powell [4] noted, politics can be motivated by idealism, values and ideas: it does not have to be about ‘cynical manoeuvring and manipulation’. In your organisation, what behaviours get rewarded? What is the reality rather than the ‘official’ values and behaviours? What is the worst behaviour that your organisation has tolerated? Given this ‘worst’, what will you change? How will you bring that about?

3.     A LIVING CREATURE – “We actively scan for, respond to and adapt to, opportunities and threats in our environment. We patrol our territory gently but will also defend it ferociously when needed”

Exercise: WHAT ANIMAL ARE YOU? What are the upsides of being that animal in your change situation? The downsides? Which behaviours will you change or grow? How?

4.     AN INSTRUMENT OF DOMINATION – This is what many may say is the unacceptable face of capitalism: exploitative labour practices; seeing the planet as a resource to be exploited in a skewed way; a culture of coercion; seeing people as merely ‘resources’ and thinking and actions reflecting values such as: “If you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen” “What they don’t know won’t hurt them” “Divide and Rule”.  

Subtle angles include the primacy of certain types of profession or expertise, exploitative labour practices, a pre-occupation with exhibiting personal power and domineering leaders who resist listening or changing their habits, to grow as leaders.   

The reality in such an organisation is that we say one thing and do another. Leaders are feared more than respected. Almost anything – and anyone – is seen as an ok sacrifice to meet Profit – or other goals. “Knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing” as Oscar Wilde put it.

Many of us may view such practice as almost a caricature of bad business. However, pockets of these organisations remain, typically driven by leaders with unusual psychometrics or more commonly simply because ‘we’re doing what we’ve always done’ and ‘we’re doing ok’ ‘there’s no great reason to change’.   

(Image: Markus Spiske, Unsplash)

How can we avoid the two extremes: too great bossism in giving orders, and practically no orders given? I am going to ask how you are avoiding these extremes. My solution is to depersonalize the giving of orders, to unite all concerned in a study of the situation, to discover the law of the situation and obey that. Until we do this I do not think we shall have the most successful business administration. – Mary Parker Follett [5] 

SUMMARY

We have surveyed the first 4 of 8 metaphors for assumptions we make about how our organisation operates and changes.

What bundle of assumptions can you unmask?  

What does this mean for the way you conceive of, and deliver, change within and beyond your organisation?

How will this affect the ways you lead your people and key stakeholders through their continuous transition journeys?

How will you grow and leverage awareness of the assumptions you make, so that you deliver better change outcomes across five bottom lines: your profit (operating surplus); your purpose, your people and the other people affected by you, your impacts on the planet and your personal outcomes?

David Santineer is a Co-Founder at Proactive by Design. Having led change teams in private, public and third sectors, he specialises in foresight for high stakes decisions and self-starting skills for landmark change results.  

[1] Morgan G (1997) Images of Organization (updated Edition), Sage

[2] Ortenblad A, Putnam LL & Trehan K (2016) Beyond Morgan’s Eight Metaphors: Adding to and developing organization theory, Human Relations, Vol 69, Issue 4, 5 April 2016

[3] McClelland D (1961, 2016) The Achieving Society, Pickle Partners Publishing

[4] Powell J (2010) The New Machiavellli: How to Wield Power in the Modern World, Vintage Books, London

[5] Follett M P (1925) The Law of the Situation (extract from ‘The Giving of Orders’)